


...But You Can't Trace Time

by Chimera428



Series: SuperCat Week 4 Fall 2019 Two Sides to Every Coin [2]
Category: Supercat - Fandom, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Cat Grant finds out Kara Danvers is Supergirl, College Student Carter Grant, Established Kara Danvers/Cat Grant, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Minor Original Character(s), Multi, Post-Graduation, SuperCat Week Day 2 Goodbye, Supercat Week, Supercat Week 4, Tumblr: supercatweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-01 09:43:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20813063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chimera428/pseuds/Chimera428
Summary: Set roughly four years after"Time May Change Me..."





	...But You Can't Trace Time

**Author's Note:**

> Day Two of SuperCat Week 2019 "Goodbye" :)
> 
> un-beta'd so all mistakes are my own

Kara stood tall and proud watching Carter as he closed the back of the SUV, his last box was already in his room and the only thing left now was the part even she had been dreading. Though not nearly as much as Cat.

Carter looked over at her, giving her a tight smile his hands going into the pockets of his jeans as he stepped over. Kara sized him up, he was taller than her now, despite being a late bloomer and Cat swore he was still growing. 

"You sure about this?" Kara asked looking around. "I mean we can pack it right back up and head back, just say the word."

Carter grinned, giving a small shake of his head. "Mom would be thrilled."

Kara chuckled softly. "Well she's not nearly as far as she would have been."

"She's still a little upset I didn't pick Georgetown."

"You make choices and you live with them, welcome to being an adult." Kara offered, checking her watch before looking up at him. "Besides, this is Olivia's last term, she's got a year...ish."

"What about you?" Carter asked with an edge of hope in his voice and Kara felt her heart break a little for it. 

"Staying in National City, you know Clark has this coast covered. Surprised he's not here, he and Lois said they would be. Then again it was tentative at best with little Connor."

Carter let out a small sigh, giving a shake of his head. "Uncle Clark is a lot of things but he's not you." 

"I'll tell him you said that."

"Or you could not."

Kara grinned, nudging him in the shoulder as they started to walk a bit amidst Columbia University's campus. They were surrounded by a plethora of other students unloading cars, carrying boxes and running about the club and house tables. 

"Just give me that one, he got to train you more than I ever did."

"You were busy."

Kara let out a breath with that, knowing she was going to be busier still. Thanks to Cat and her unusual CatCo anniversary gift. From assistant to reporter to editor in Chief with Snapper's retirement. Even if Cat wasn't the CEO anymore, her influences and hidden conditional contract clauses were still firmly in place. Being the current press secretary didn't hurt either, Kara supposed. 

"You know I can be here in an instant. One word and I'd tear open the sky." 

Carter smirked, thinking back on the times she had very nearly done that. 

"I know, but like you said, Clark trained me so I'd like to think I could hold my own a little bit."

"Better than most." Kara admitted, recalling the tearful conversation she had with Cat on the matter after Carter had been kidnapped a couple years ago.

Carter stopped and Kara looked up, trying to keep a straight face as a flagged motorcade pulled up around the main drive. "Oh God, she didn't."

"She did say she had a prior event to deal with before she could make it here." Kara crossed her arms over her chest, watching the three cars pull around in full view of the rest of campus. "Be thankful she didn't use Marine Two."

"Please don't remind me." That was how Cat had shown up to his graduation in December, along with the President and he was still reeling from it a bit even six or so months later. 

"She loves you, can't deny that."

Carter let out a breath, running a hand through the length of his hair as the cars came to a stop. The door on the first car opened, the standard security complement filing out to open the rear doors. Carter held his breath a minute, waiting for his mother to emerge until she didn't. 

He frowned, his brain working to catch up before he looked over at Kara who gave him a small shrug and her best impression of Cat's typical impassively knowing side eye. 

"I hate you both." 

Kara walked slowly forward as Carter rushed ahead, wrapping Hannah up before swinging her around as he picked her off the ground. 

After a few shouts and cheers from random strangers Kara gave a nod to Susan with a bit of a smirk. 

"Vasquez."

"Kara." 

Susan stepped aside taking point, as Kara knocked on the rear window of the last car. Kara set her back against the vehicle as the window slid down, still watching Carter and Hannah fawn over each other. 

"You planning on coming out of there or are you waiting for a carpet to roll out?"

Cat looked up at Kara with a stern glare before looking at her son. "I don't know if I can do this."

"You said the same thing when he started high school, and got his driver's license and-." 

"This is different and you know it, sass."

Kara gave a small nod, watching the pair as they caught up. Hannah had graduated a year ahead of Carter and was already a year into a bio-med degree at Cornell. Cat's prior engagement had been to acquire her as a small surprise for her son. Kara knew the moment she met the girl she was going to be a part of their lives, she just hadn't known on what capacity until Carter's sophomore year when they started dating despite being in two separate schools. 

"Yeah, I know," Kara finally admitted before looking at Cat. "Alex and Lena said Sam would be by later with their dorm welcoming gift. Miah starts first grade this week, otherwise they'd be here too."

"Everyone is growing up so fast." 

"That happens." Kara said with an edge of sadness in her voice, there was almost too much truth to that for her liking.

Kara already felt as if she had aged a lifetime or two while barely looking older than thirty. Just yesterday her niece was even brought home much less starting kindergarten. Before Kara knew it, she'd be in a place like this again sending Miah off to college. 

"Don't go there." Cat cautioned, finally stepping out of the car. Moving directly in front of Kara before placing a lingering kiss on her lips. "Or we'll never get through this."

Kara pulled Cat in closer by her hips, kissing her again without restraint until she heard Carter groan nearby. 

"Really Momma?" Hannah nudged Carter before he shook his head and explained. "This was why we were late this morning. These two are impossible."

Kara laughed against Cat's mouth before the other woman turned and looked at her son pointedly. 

"Can't help it your mom's irresistibly hot kiddo." Kara offered before Cat could say anything.

"Kill me now." 

Kara grinned looking over at Hannah. "Nice of you to join us." 

"Like I would miss this, people still talk about Supergirl showing up on my campus thanks to you."

Kara grinned "Least I could do." She nodded towards Carter. "This one wanted a lower profile this time around."

Someone shouted across campus, pulling their attention before Kara followed where people were starting to point. She moved ahead of the group, ready to jump into one of the cars and come out in her suit while Vasquez and the other security officers closed in. 

"So much for low profile." Cat uttered. 

"Damn…" Hannah breathed as she hugged Carter who was biting back a groan. 

Superman landed a few feet away, a small gift box in hand as he beamed at the group. "Sorry I'm late." 

Kara already had a hand over her mouth, leaning into Cat while Carter looked absolutely beside himself as half the campus came rushing over. 

"Had a little trouble in Metropolis this morning and Lois is handling Connor."

"You could have mailed it." Carter stated with a small nudge from behind from his mother. He turned towards Kara then who held up her hands defensively. "I take it back, you can tell him I said so."

Hannah took the gift while Carter hugged the man, giving him a thank you before stepping back as the crowd gathered around all clamoring to get a handshake or photo with the superhero. 

Kara smirked watching him as Carter tried not to look too embarrassed as other students asked him about how he knew Superman. 

Kara wrapped her arms around Cat from behind, setting her chin on Cat's shoulder. "He's going to do well here you know." 

Cat took a deep breath, a hand wrapping around Kara's arm. Kara's smile broadened as she caught the shimmer of Cat's marriage bracelet peeking out from the line of her shirt. 

"I thought you didn't-"

"I got tired of people asking." Cat stated, turning enough to look at Kara as she slid her hand down to Kara's own, fingering the ring she wore. "Not unlike yourself."

They had kept their marriage a secret for over a year now, only their closest family members even knew. They had agreed then not to wear either their bracelets or rings in the open for a myriad of reasons; until Cat had spotted Kara's wedding band while reviewing footage of Supergirl's latest exploits from a month ago. 

"About that…"

Superman pulled their attention again as he hovered above the masses, wishing Carter good luck before drifting off into the sky. 

"We're having a chat at Thanksgiving… I swear!" Carter said loud enough for his mother's to hear while Hannah chuckled. 

"He's proud of you."

"Yeah well… I love him too." Carter admitted before looking to the box. 

"Open it." Kara pushed, Cat's curiosity brimming on her tongue with what Kara had meant before her attention turned to Carter. 

"It can wait til I'm in my dorm."

"Just humor us." 

Cat glanced at Kara knowingly, her eyes narrowing, while Carter practically mimicked the look. Something was going on, one of Kara’s surprises no doubt. They were notorious to say the least and they had all had their fair share of experiences with them, be it first or second hand. 

Carter looked down to the box while Hannah held it, prying off the binding tie before sliding the lid off. When nothing jumped out he leaned closer, his shoulders dropping a bit as he looked inside seeing a folded up shirt staring back at him. He reached inside, drawing it out before seeing the smaller wooden box beneath with the House of El crest etched into the top. 

“Why did he give you a big brother shirt?” Hannah asked causing Carter to look up and Cat to turn abruptly in order to look at Kara. 

Cat set herself directly into Kara’s eyeline. “You said the council on Argo… That they wouldn’t allow-” 

Kara looked at Cat as if she were the only person in the world. "The council on Argo were wrong."

Hannah leaned into Carter, her eyes searching for explanations. 

"Remember after I graduated, when I went on vacation?"

"You were gone for nearly three months, that's more than a vacation."

Carter nodded, keeping his voice low while his mother's talked. "We went to Kara's… what was left of her homeworld. So they could get married properly according to her. When we were there, Mom being Mom, extended a kind of diplomatic recognition on behalf of the President."

Hannah frowned glancing to Cat and Kara before looking up at Carter. "So how does that play into your shirt?"

Carter smirked faintly. "Kara's mom is this kind of founder on Argo and she let her know about this lost group of kids when she wasn't supposed to."

"Okay you've really lost me here Carter, what's going on?"

"You know Kara's planet died suddenly right?"

Hannah nodded, she knew what Supergirl and Superman had said about their homeworld over the few years she's come to know who they were. Not to mention the revelation to the rest of the world about a year ago that a part of it had survived. 

"So they have these matrix things, like baby pods I guess is the best way to describe it. While going through parts of the planet that they could reach beyond Argo, they found some that had been stuck in some kind of stasis and brought them back."

"You're saying they found a bunch of babies?"

Carter nodded. "Kara's mom, and a few others apparently, restored the pods they could without approval or something like that a few years ago."

"Okay but, how does that involve you becoming a big brother?"

"One of the pods was from Kara's Aunt Astra."

Kara drew Cat to her, her voice gentle and even. "After we left, after you stood in front of what was left of Krypton, and the council and fought for the Vrazhium-Rao… Alura spoke with them, Kal spoke with them even Lois and Olivia and-"

"Are… are we supposed to leave? To raise-"

Kara shook her head, easing Cat’s apprehension. She knew what she was getting into when Kara had revealed who one of those children they had met really was. The council had denied Kara's request, citing the children as some kind of phantoms of an old world to be used as a kind of example and Cat had had none of it. Even now she knew she wasn't welcomed back on Kara's homeworld because of it and would do it again a thousand time over regardless.

"She belongs with her family, and her family resides on Earth, you and me and Carter."

"Alura is okay with this? She-"

"Played just as much a part as the rest of them in what was done to those children. Even if she owns it now," Kara expression hardened for a split second. "Maybe more, given that she was one of the ones who brought them out of stasis." Kara still wasn't really talking to her mother, wasn't sure if she could forgive her for the things that had been done in the name of Rao and survival while saving face. 

"Where… What do we have to do?"

Kara smirked, straightening as she pulled Cat to her before easing her around in order to include Carter in what she was about to say. 

"First, we have to make sure that this young man is set and ready." 

Carter stepped closer, only to be wrapped up by his mother in a fierce hug. 

"I'm not saying goodbye, you know that right?"

Carter hugged her back just as tight. "Wouldn't dream of it." 

Cat leaned back after another minute, holding his face in her hands. "Tell me if you're not okay with this? Even a little bit."

Carter shook his head, squeezing his mother's arms gently. "Remember when I asked Kara to stay?" 

Cat nodded, swallowing visibly. "You already knew far more than I did how that would turn out.”

Carter smiled, pulling his mother back into a tight hug. "I knew the same thing about Iva when I met her." 

Cat hugged Carter as if her life depended on it, whispering something else to him the others couldn't hear or at least Kara made as if she hadn't. 

"I promise." Carter said after a minute. 

"I might not have a fancy superwatch like your Uncle hands out like candy but-"

"You'll always be the first one I call."

"What'm I?"

Carter grinned, yanking Kara over and hugging her as well. "A very close second?" 

"Gee thanks." 

Kara reached for Hannah, pulling her in just as tight. "Don't think you're getting out of this either. This advice goes double for you."

The four of them lingered like that for another few moments before Carter made to step back, drawing Hannah with him. 

"Susan is going to stay and take you back to Cornell when you're ready." Cat offered with a wobbly sigh looking at Hannah. 

"Mom you need to go, we'll be fine." 

Cat hugged Carter again, bending him down to her while Kara and Hannah looked on. "You're coming home for all holidays, no exceptions."

"Mom…"

"Okay, I'm going, we're going." Cat reluctantly drew back, giving another smaller hug to Hannah before heading for the car. 

Kara smirked looking over the two as Cat slipped into the car. "Thank you." 

Carter raised an eyebrow, again looking so much like his mother. "For?"

"Asking me to stay." 

Carter pulled Kara into a hug then, squeezing as tightly as he could. "I'm not going to ask you now, as much as I want to Momma."

Kara hugged him back just as fierce, careful not to hurt him but enough to relay what his words meant to her now. 

"Promise you'll bring Iva by once everything is settled?" He asked, stepping back again as Hannah leaned into his side. 

"Of course, she already misses you."

Carter gave a curt nod, keeping the whole of his emotions in check despite the tears brimming in his eyes. "Can't wait." 

Kara smiled at Hannah then. "Keep an eye on him, yeah?"

Hannah grinned, looking up at Carter. "As much as he'll let me."

Kara squeezed Hannah's hand with that before stepping back towards the waiting car with Cat. 

As two of the three cars pulled away, Cat and Kara waved at Carter and Hannah. 

"I seem to recall doing this before… only we were looking at an elevator from your executive floor."

"That was when I knew without a doubt that I loved you, and that Carter loved you too." 

Kara nudged Cat gently. "Charmer."

Cat turned back to Kara properly once they were back on the main drive, seeking out her hands and holding them tightly. 

"That's why you started wearing your ring isn't it? The council's decision being overturned about Iva."

Kara shook her head. "I started wearing it out in the open because of you. The presser you gave, when Olivia declared human and alien marriages equally legal." 

Cat thought back on that, having made a point to wear her bracelet and ring. When Kara hadn't mentioned it, she figured that moment had slipped past Kara's radar and set it out of her mind. "You didn't say anything."

Kara looked down at their joined hands, her own bracelet slipping down into view. "I should have, but the timing wasn't ever right and I didn't want to do it over the phone or over some monitored video call."

Cat nodded, giving Kara's hand a squeeze as her thumb brushed gently across the simple band circling Kara's finger. "How are we going to even do this…?" 

Kara leaned down with Cat's whisper, giving her a knowing smile. "We managed this, learned a lot in four years."

"Carter was older, we still worked together, we don't even live in the same state-"

"And we've made it work. I'm not going to lie and say it's been easy and I know this is going to be very different but… one thing I do know, especially as CatCo's editor in Chief, there's rumor of a board seat coming up."

"Kara…"

"It's just a rumor, nothing solid. And, because I'm supposed to be appraised of things, James has been talking about getting back to the basics and may or may not be considering a re-negotiation of his company contract with a few addendums. Including his choice of CEO."

Cat glanced up at her then, unsure if she even wanted to take that position again. Kara squeezed her hand as if easing her mind. 

"You have a year, and if all you want is to be the owner and overseer of it all, only stepping foot in the building when absolutely necessary that's an option. So is not accepting any offer that comes your way doing nothing but staying home with our daughter. You need to know all of your options and that whatever you decide, I'm with you."

"What about-"

"J'onn is looking after Iva with Eliza. Right now, along with whatever you and I come up with, for the next year that's not a bad start. She's going to have to adapt, to Earth, to herself on Earth and if it's too much they can take her back to Argo at any time. Not to mention Alex and Lena being so close."

"I could use the studio at the house, do some of my briefings there while-"

"We figure it out." Kara assured. 

Cat swallowed thickly, searching Kara's features. "I always wanted a little girl…" 

Kara smiled, leaning over and kissing Cat tenderly. "You already gave me a son, the least I could do was return the favor." 

Cat laughed gently, pulling Kara to her and kissing her breathless.

"Keep that up and I'll never get my suit back on."

"Promises promises."

**Author's Note:**

> Vrazhium-Rao - utilized like a house name meaning Orphans of Rao so essentially Iva Vrazhium-Rao until now which would make her Iva Kara-El on Krypton
> 
> Somehow I managed an entire universe to write for with these two stories.... Gee thanks brain like I don't have enough wips I'm trying to finish


End file.
